For the third week in a row, the Briarwood Academy Buccaneers have come up on the "short end of a stick."

The big and strong Bulloch Academy Gators swam into Buccaneer territory last Friday night and handed the Buccaneers a 25-0 loss. This defeat plummets Briarwood's overall record to 1-3, while the victory increases Bulloch's record to 3-1.

Bulloch scored on its first three possessions of the second half to break a 0-0 halftime deadlock and to lead the way for the big victory.

"We just got beat by a better team this week," said Buccaneer Head Coach Jimmy Barnett. "We knew they were a good team, and they have three of the state's best linebackers on their squad.

"Bulloch's linebackers are big and quick, and they just shut the door on us all night."

Coach Barnett said his team was able to stay with the Gators during the first half.

"Our effort was good, and I was extremely proud of our defensive unit in the first half when we held them scoreless," he said. "They didn't control us in the first half."

The turning point in this game for both teams was three-fold. And as anyone knows, you must capitalize on any opportunity you have.

"One of the turning points in this game was when the Gators blocked a 27-yard field goal attempt by Briarwood's Burt Goolsby with 31 seconds remaining in the first half," said Coach Barnett. "If we had converted on this kick, we would have been up 3-0 at the half. We must take advantage of opportunities like this when we are deep in our opponent's territory."

Coach Barnett also pointed to Bulloch's kicking game as another major turning point.

"They had good speed and good hands, and this was just another weapon in their game plan," he said.

The third turning point in last Friday night's contest was a 57-yard punt return by Bulloch's Yancey Mooney to the Briarwood 3 yard line that set up the Gator's first touchdown of the game.

On the first play from scrimmage following the long punt return, Bulloch's Daniel Whitt scored from the three yard line to give the Gators a 6-0 lead with 9:08 remaining in the third quarter. The Buccaneers swarmed the extra point attempt and blocked it.

Harry Collins scored the Gator's second touchdown of the game with 2:31 remaining in the third period on a 3 yard run of his own. The two-point attempt failed, thus the score became 12-0.

On Bulloch's next drive, Mooney galloped 33 yards on the possession's sixth play to give his Gators an 18-0 advantage at the 11:15 mark of the fourth quarter. The pass for two points failed.

The final score for Bulloch Academy came with 4:28 left to play in the game on a 2-yard run by Whitt.

Bulloch Academy totally dominated the statistics, as the Gators rushed for 209 yards on the ground, compared to Briarwood's 73 yards. The Gators amassed 262 yards of total offense to 83 for the Bucs.

ĘGoolsby was the leading rusher for Briarwood with 62 yards on 10 carries. Defensively, the Bucs recovered four Gator fumbles. Those falling on the loose pigskin were Kyle Ewest, Morgan Howard and Tyler Wester with two.

"Hopefully this week, we will have Steven Sparks back in our lineup," said Coach Barnett. "He has been out for three weeks now due to a fractured ankle he suffered in practice. If he can come back quickly, our short passing game will be back to potential."